The airline also released a statement which said, in part, “Fuel and Glycol Supplies are frozen at ORD (Chicago O’Hare Int’l Airport); additionally, our employees are only able to be on the ramp for a few minutes at a time because wind chills are as low as 45 degrees below zero at some airports.”

“These inconveniences, as real as they are to people trying to get home, are temporary. And in the whole scheme of things, they’re relatively minor. What we’re talking about is saving lives,” the retired pilot said.

Airlines said it could be several days until flight schedules return to normal.

“After having frozen toes for the past few days, it’s nice to be back in the warmth of LA,” said passenger Jessica Sloan, who was happy to finally make it home.

Chris Kasick made it back to LA four days later than scheduled after his connecting JetBlue flight in New York was delayed.

“I’ve never seen JFK so insane. There were hundreds and hundreds of people just sleeping in the luggage place. No one has luggage. I don’t have any bags, so I gotta get my clothes back,” he said.

Kasick added, “I had to spend $3,000 out of my own pocket to get the hotel room, the flight.”